One of my rear shockers has virtually seized up. You can hardly push that corner of the car down at all and the ride is very harsh. The other shocker is leaking so a new pair is on the cards. The faulty ones are the self-levelling type but I'll be replacing them with standard ones as self-levelling ones don't appear to be available and, even if they are, I'm told they're around £150 as opposed to £60 or so each.

Question - what do I need to do to stop the self-levelling air compressor working?

Second question - do I need to purchase any washers or other items to fit the new shockers?

PS. I'm now being asked whether I wish to disable parsing of ubbc tags and smileys. I know what smileys are but ubbc tags.........................??? Is it painful to parse them?

Sorry for info about fuse..its #27..for S/L system.

amba wrote on 19. Aug 2011 at 20:41:


Thanks for the info. I haven't replaced the shocks yet but have removed the fuse. However, when I start the engine there's a continuous clicking sound, like a relay's being cycled on and off really fast. If I put the fuse back the noise stops but it's going to be a pain doing that every time I start the engine. I'll therefore try disconnecting the compressor's power lead if I can find it - unless anyone has another suggestion.

RobG wrote on 22. Aug 2011 at 11:40:


I think the OP's car is an estate Rob. 

RobG wrote on 22. Aug 2011 at 11:40:


Thanks for the offer but I've got new ones on order and, as twiglet says, mine's an estate. Actually I've just updated my profile as my current Omega is a 1998 model. The 1997 one caught fire a couple of years ago! 

Osprey wrote on 22. Aug 2011 at 15:17:

I never did discover exactly what the cause was. It seemed to have started near the fuel pipes where they join the manifiold. I'm going to try attaching a couple of photos (using photobucket) so you may be able to spot something I missed. Fingers crossed as I don't do this very often and will probably get it wrong!
<ahref="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/hollis583/action=view&amp;current=Omegafi..."><imgsrc="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/hollis583/Omegafire.jpg"border="0"alt="Ph..."></a><a href="http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/hollis583/?action=view&amp;current=Omegaf..." target="_blank"><img src="http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f141/hollis583/Omegafire1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>[img]

Doesn't look like a powersounder fire to me... I'd expect the scuttle to melt quickly

Jimbob wrote on 23. Aug 2011 at 13:19:


Tough one to guess... I wonder if there had been any work done recently before the fire?

If I had to speculate I'd be looking as a slight leak from one of the fuel lines onto the manifold